Forever Zodiac
by VioletHeart3899
Summary: Book 3 of The Zodiac Trilogy. They are the Zodiac. Brought together by destiny, they sacrificed themselves to destroy Bill Cipher and save the universe once and for all . . . now what?
1. Wake Me Up

Weightlessness. That was the first thing that registered in his barely-conscious mind. He felt like he was floating, like there was nothing but air above and below him, and yet the air somehow felt heavier than him.

He opened his eyes, only to immediately wish he hadn't. The world was a blurry mess of colors, swirling about like the surface of a soap bubble. The chaotic motion and glaring brightness of the hues dizzied him, and he blinked several times, trying to focus his vision . . .

Something grabbed his shoulder. He jerked away with a scream.

"Dipper?"

Slowly he turned to look behind him. " . . . Mabel?"

He'd expected to be barely able to make out her silhouette, but instead his sister stood out clear as day against the amorphous background, which both reassured and unsettled him. Then came the realization that something looked off about Mabel, too: her colors seemed slightly more intense, and a subtle blue glow surrounded her features.

"Why are you glowing?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Sure enough, his own appearance had been altered in the same way.

 _"Dudes!"_

A rotund figure, also glowing, was swimming through space towards them.

"Soos!"

"I wasn't expecting to find you dudes. What are you doing here?" He looked around. "Speaking of which, what am _I_ doing here?"

"That's . . . an excellent question, actually." Dipper glanced again at the swirling colors around them. "Where _is_ here?"

"Beats me."

"Wendy!" He whirled around and hugged her without a second thought. Wendy gladly returned the embrace.

"Do I get a hug, Mabel?"

Mabel nearly jumped out of her sweater. " _Gideon!_ You promised you wouldn't make a big deal out of us holding hands!"

"I lied." A mischievous grin lit up his face.

"Hey! Is that you guys over there?" Pacifica was approaching the group, dragging Robbie by the wrist.

"Wendy, right? I found your boyfriend tangled up in some kind of giant spiderweb or something . . . "

"First of all, I'm her _ex_ -boyfriend—"

"Whatever."

"—and second of all, I could've gotten out of there just fine if you hadn't come along!"

"Right, tell that to the creepy alien thing that was about to eat your face off."

Wendy leaned towards them. "Was he screaming like a girl?"

 _"No!"_

"Yes." The others burst into laughter.

 _"Dipper? Mabel?"_

The twins spun around. "Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!" The four reunited in a group hug.

"Thank God you're okay," Stan sighed. "You're okay, right?" The kids nodded.

Dipper pulled away and glanced around the group. " _So_ . . . now that we're all back together, does anyone know what exactly's going on here? I mean, Bill pretty much said we'd all _die_ if we used the Zodiac, so how is it that we're . . . y'know . . . "

"Not dead?"

"Yeah."

"An excellent question." Ford stroked his chin. " . . . Well, according to the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed . . . "

"What the heck are you talking about, Poindexter?"

"Well, judging by what Bill said, the Zodiac must be powered by the life force, or life _energy_ , of its members. But all that energy wouldn't just disappear, it would have to _go_ somewhere—probably through the Rift to seal it. And after that . . . well, after that it was probably just sitting here, so it had time to disperse and reconstitute, and . . . well, here we are now."

Dipper cocked his head. "So, we're energy, basically?"

"I suppose . . . that _would_ explain the glowing."

"Well that's great and all," Robbie interjected, "but where the heck are we?!"

The surrounding view was all the same chaotic colors, save for a few bizarre rock formations floating off in the distance.

Ford looked around. "Well, if we came in through the Rift . . . " His eyes suddenly widened. "Oh no . . . "

"What?"

"No _. . . no!"_

"Spit it out, Sixer!"

"We're in the Nightmare Realm! This is Bill's domain!"

"Bill- _shmill_." Gideon gave a careless wave. "We killed him, didn't we?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean his minions are gone! And if they're not, they're here! We have to get out of here before they . . . "

An enormous shadow fell over the group. Ford heard a quiet, ominous chuckle from behind him.

He didn't bother asking the question that immediately crossed his mind. Instead, he took a deep breath and said precisely what any calm, rational person would say in such a situation.

 _ **"RUN!"**_


	2. Save Me

"How long have we been hidin' here?"

Dipper turned to Gideon and shrugged. "I don't know, probably less than an hour?"

"Really?" Soos asked. "Feels like it's been forever . . . "

"Shh, someone's coming!"

 _"Mortals . . . come out to play . . . "_

Pyronica's voice echoed eerily through the void as she slunk past a floating purple crag. Xanthar and Paci-Fire went around the other side. But nobody bothered to go under the rock, so they didn't see where it hollowed upwards into a tunnel. Which was certainly a good thing.

"Okay, time to go home!" Mabel whispered. "How do we get out of here, Grunkle Ford?"

"Um . . . uhh . . . "

"C'mon, Poindexter! You spent thirty years on the other side of that stupid portal—"

"And you don't think I wouldn't have been back sooner if I'd figured out a way? The only reason I ever escaped at all was that _you_ reactivated the portal right when I was about to defeat Bill—"

"Oh! So this is all _my_ fault now—"

 _"Shut up!"_ Wendy hissed. "Both of you shut up before they find us!"

Ford sighed and ran a stressed hand through his hair. "As for escaping . . . Bill managed to break into our world from here through an interdimensional rift . . . "

"Then I don't suppose there are any of those just lyin' around here, are there?"

"Not that I know of. Not unless any of you have seen . . . "

Ford stopped and glanced around the group. A look of panic came over him. "Oh my God . . . "

"What now?"

 _"Where's Fiddleford?!"_

A scream from outside was all the answer necessary.

None of them knew what to expect to find outside. But if one thing was certain, it sure wasn't Old Man McGucket riding a ginormous tentacled worm, swinging a banjo around to knock eye-bats left and right.

"Git back, ya varmints! Git!" He swung squarely at one and sent it flying like a home run. Then he turned and noticed the others. "Howdy, friends! Fancy seein' y'all here!"

A moment of stunned silence passed before Dipper spoke up. "McGucket . . . how . . . what just _happened?"_

"Well, I'm not quite sure myself. So I woke up in this . . . whatever this place is, when suddenly, this here space worm comes outta nowhere and grabs me! I try to squirm free, but it's clear I can't fight it real good empty-handed, and just as I'm wishin' I had my trusty banjo, there it is! So then I use it to break free and beat the worm into submission!" He broke off with a laugh.

Another awkward pause. "Well," Stan snarked, "that clears things up a lot . . . Did you understand any of that, Sixer?"

"Matter manifestation," Ford muttered. "That was one of Bill's powers . . . "

"Not just Bill!" Soos interrupted. "There was this one time that we had to fight Bill—you remember, don't you Dipper? You were shooting lasers from your eyes and Mabel had kittens for fists . . . "

"But that was in the Mindscape," Dipper replied. "And we're not in the Mindscape now, so how would that be possible here?"

"Maybe it's 'cause of the . . . what did you call it earlier?" Robbie asked. "The Zodiac? When we all started glowing and stuff?"

"Yeah!" Pacifica agreed. "After all, everyone's still glowing now."

Dipper shrugged. "Maybe. But that still doesn't explain these . . . these _powers_ or whatever . . . "

"Hold up!" Mabel shouted. "Did you say powers? Like . . . ?" She glanced at her hand, then shut her eyes in concentration, until a ball of pink light materialized in her hand. A small gasp escaped her as she opened her eyes.

"Woah," Wendy breathed, drawing closer. "How did you—"

"Dudes, LOOK OUT!"

Kryptos was flying at the group with a shrieking laugh. Mabel flinched and, without thinking, hurled the pink ball at him. It flew through the air whistling and exploded like a firecracker, blasting the demon back.

"Woah!" Mabel's face lit up as she turned to the others. "You guys saw that too, right?"

"Incredible!" Ford gasped. "The prophecy said that the Zodiac was the only thing that could destroy Bill . . . perhaps its mystical properties influenced our life force, and—"

"Hey, Poindexter!" Stan interrupted. "How 'bout we analyze it later? These freaks wanna play with us, right?" His eyes narrowed. "Then I say, _let's play."_

* * *

" . . . and then the little girl threw this light at me, like, like a shooting star or something, and BOOM! It just blew up in my face, literally!"

The other Henchmaniacs stared at Kryptos.

"Uh, are you sure about all that?" 8-Ball asked skeptically.

"Have you been doing Smile Dip again?"

"I swear guys, it really happened! The humans were right over there, but they weren't human anymore, they were . . . they looked a little like us, actually."

"Sounds silly," Pyronica replied, "but he's right, guys. If the mortals are around here, it's time we teach them a lesson!"

"But, uh, what if Kryptos is telling the truth?" Keyhole protested. "What if they are stronger than before? Remember that giant robot they had?"

Pyronica burst out laughing. "Please! They're _mortals._ How bad could they possibly be? Come on!"

It only took a few minutes to find them again, practically huddled in fear. Xanthar got so excited that he leapt over the others at the mortals, causing them to scatter like chickens. All except this one guy, the idiot with the fez, who just stood there watching the huge monster come at him. He drew his arm back to punch him in the face, as if that would help, and then . . .

And then Xanthar burst into flames and vanished as Stan landed the hit.

The Henchmaniacs froze.

"Aw, **_snap!"_** Kryptos shrieked. _"The fez guy killed Xanthar!"_

Pyronica turned to the boys, still standing like statues. "Don't just stand there! **_Get them!"_** With that, the Hemchmaniacs leapt into action.

"Alright guys!" Dipper shouted. "Here we go!"

8-Ball didn't hesitate to lunge at Dipper. Acting on instinct, Dipper fired lasers from his eyes. The gremlin's glassy orbs were shattered.

 _"Ahh! I can't see!"_ 8-Ball tried to regenerate, when BAM! Dipper launched him with an uppercut to the jaw.

Something grabbed Pacifica from behind. She turned to find Hectorgon restraining her. She jabbed and kicked at him to no avail. Finally she grabbed his mustache and yanked him off of her. He spun through the void like a frisbee and bowled over several other monsters.

"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" Kryptos laughed as he punched Gideon by holding his wrists.

 _ **"Stop it!"**_ Gideon snarled. Kryptos suddenly froze, a pale blue glow gripping his sides. Gideon stared in confusion. Then a sly grin crossed his face.

Kryptos' arm lifted by itself and started punching him in the face. "Stop hitting yerself! Stop hitting yerself!" Gideon laughed.

"Oh _Sixer . . . "_ Ford turned just in time to see Keyhole tackle him. He tried to push him off, but Keyhole was bearing down on his shoulders too hard.

"Not sure why I was scared of you, weakling! I saw you squirm when the boss ripped that lightning through ya!"

"Lightning?" Ford smirked. "You mean like _this?"_ He pressed his hands to Keyhole's face and charged them with electricity. Keyhole jumped away, writhing and screaming.

Robbie punched out several monsters that came too close. Suddenly Teeth pounced on him. Hot breath blew on Robbie's face as the monster's gaping jaws loomed over him. In a panic, Robbie grabbed the tongue and pulled hard.

Teeth let out a hideous shriek. Robbie kicked him off and got back up, panting. Then he noticed the severed tongue still in his hand. "Ew, gross!" He flung it away.

"C'mon, guys!" Pyronica whined. "You're not even trying!" She looked down and saw Wendy hacking an axe at several of her accomplices. She dove in for the attack.

Wendy felt the space above her getting hot. She looked up and found Pyronica coming at her fast. Frozen for a second, she shot up an icy blast and shut her eyes.

No attack came. Wendy looked again. Pyronica was frozen solid, her pink flames now cold and white. Wendy marveled at her handiwork, then twirled her axe and shattered the demon.

The surviving Henchmaniacs regrouped, taking a moment to catch their breath.

 _"Soos love stomach beam **STARE!"**_

A flurry of rainbow question marks blasted the Henchmaniacs apart. Once the ray dissipated, they wasted no time in fleeing the area.

"Yeah, you freaks better run!" Stan shook his fist after them. "And don't _EVER_ come back, ya hear?"

"We . . . we did it," Dipper panted. "We actually did it, haha!"

Everyone cheered and exchanged high-fives, and the collective blue glow seemed to get brighter.

" . . . So now what do we do?"

And just like that, the excited energy dissipated.

"Way to be a buzzkill, Robbie," Wendy groaned.

"Well it's true!"

"Alright," Dipper looked around. "Let's think: how did Bill leave the Nightmare Realm before Weirdmageddon?"

"He didn't," Ford answered. "Not unless he was summoned."

Gideon gasped. "The Journals! The order of the Zodiac symbols was different in the Journals from the one we did in the Fearamid!"

"He's right!" Mabel gasped. "And it was different that time we chased him out of Grunkle Stan's mind! Gideon, you're a genius!" Gideon blushed.

"Wait." Stan turned to Ford. "Does the wheel do different stuff when the symbol order's different?"

"I don't know . . . but it's certainly worth a try! Now, what was the other arrangement again?"

"Uh, I think I remember." Soos came forward. "Wendy and I were still together, but Stan was between Dipper and Wendy, and . . . I think Mabel and Pacifica switched places over there? No, wait, you guys were over more . . . " After a few minutes of shuffling, only Dipper and Robbie were still in their original spots.

"Everyone ready?"

"Let's do this." The Zodiac held hands once again.

The circle's blue glow quickly intensified, until everything vanished in a white flash. As the light faded, the group noticed that they were surrounded by towering pines.

"Did it work?" Mabel looked around the clearing. "Are we back?"

The sky was bright blue, like a canvas streaked with perfect white clouds. A birdsong rang out as clear as the beautiful day. In short, the place seemed too serenely normal to be Gravity Falls.

"I hear something!" Stan turned. "Over there!"

The ten headed through the trees. Sure enough, there were voices just ahead, one of which sounded like Mayor Cutebiker.

 _"Citizens of Gravity Falls, I present the heroes of the universe!"_

"Here we are!" The Zodiac triumphantly broke through the trees into the sunny clearing.

And gasped.

Perhaps they'd forgotten, if just for a little while, about their bodies. After all, they'd materialized in the Nightmare Realm as reconstituted life force, so their physical forms had to be somewhere else, right? Either way, the Zodiac froze at the sight of their lifeless bodies lying in the middle of the clearing, still holding hands.

Preston Northwest walked towards the circle. "Pacifica, you _are_ a hero! Your mother and I have never been so proud . . . now _get off the ground!"_

"Dad, that's not me!" Pacifica tugged at his sleeve, but he didn't seem to feel it. "That's not me—is it?"

Robbie's parents picked him up for a hug, only to gasp as he fell limp in their arms. His dad shook him gently. "Robbie? . . . _Robbie?"_

"Mom! Dad! I'm right here!" He waved his arms in front of them. "Can't you hear me?"

"Oh my God . . . "

Preston looked up from Pacifica's body. "What?"

Robbie's dad swallowed, and his eyes started to water.

" . . . they're dead."


	3. Bring Me to Life

Preston Northwest blinked. "What? No . . . " He looked back down at his daughter, and his eyes went wide. "No . . . _no!_ Pacifica!"

Off to the side, the Zodiac could only watch as the townsfolk started to panic.

"Oh my gosh . . . " Dipper grabbed the sides of his hat. "We're dead?! We're actually _dead?!"_

Mabel laughed nervously. "Don't worry, guys, this is probably just a bad dream left over from Weirdmageddon. We'll all wake up any minute now! Hahaha . . . ha . . . " Without another word, she bolted towards the circle and dropped to her knees.

"Wake up, Mabel! Wake up!" She grabbed her own corpse by the shoulders and shook it vigorously. _"Wake up!"_ She slapped herself across the face, only to pull her hand back with a gasp at how cold her flesh cheek was. Seconds later, she ran back to Grunkle Stan with tears in her eyes.

Stan wrapped his arms around his shaking great-niece. "Ford, what do we do?"

No answer came.

" . . . Ford?" He turned around. Everyone else was still there.

But Ford was not.

* * *

 _Stupid._

He banged his head on the tree again. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

How could he have been so foolish? Surely the cave paintings must have said _something_ about the aftermath of the prophecy. But had he ever even thought to check? Of course not!

If he'd known, he never would've presented it as an option. Even if it was ultimately for the good of the universe, the others—God, most of them _children!_ —the others didn't deserve to die to fix his . . .

"Stanford!"

He grimaced at the voice calling him. His head drooped in shame, and he didn't bother to answer.

Stan dashed through the trees. "Stanford, there you are!" He ran into the clearing, the others close behind him.

"Don't disappear like that, will ya . . . "

He stopped. Ford was facing away from them, leaning against a broad tree, with his head and shoulders slumped. His blue glow was dim, and even his normal colors seemed almost faded.

"Hey, Sixer, you okay?"

Ford muttered something.

" . . . I didn't quite catch that, what'd you—"

"I said I'm a _murderer_ , Stanley!" He whirled around. "Didn't you see what's happened? Everyone's dead because of me!"

"Woah, hold up!" Stan laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. "This is _not_ your fault, and there's absolute no reason for you to blame yourself. We all _chose_ to go ahead with the Zodiac, and it's not like there was any other way to stop Bill . . . "

"We don't know that! We were already glowing and in formation by the time we found out. There was no time to ask questions—" Ford's gaze shot up at the others. "If there was a chance we could've stopped Bill some other way, or hell, even if there wasn't but we _knew_ off the bat that the Zodiac would cost us our lives, would you all have gone along with it so readily?"

No one could answer.

"Exactly." He slumped against the tree again. "Besides, the fact remains that it wouldn't have been necessary to stop Bill in the first place if I'd never built—"

"Now you stop right there!" McGucket marched forward. "We built that portal together, and when I saw the horrors on the other side, what did I do about it? Nothin' but walk away like a coward and leave you to deal with it! If anything it's my fault, old friend, not yours."

Mabel's face fell. "Don't say that about yourself, McGucket. The truth is . . . it's all my fault!"

"Mabel, what are you talking about?" Dipper looked at his twin with concern. "You couldn't have done anything different because you didn't even _know_ what Bill was planning. And . . . that's really my fault for not telling you . . . "

"But I'm the one who gave him the time bubble!"

"Time bubble?"

"That's what he called the weird snowglobe thing . . . I grabbed your bag instead of mine after we fought—that was my fault too for not wanting you to leave me. Then Bill possessed Blendin and told me that if I gave it to him he could make summer last forever!" She started tearing up again. "So I did because I was stupid and selfish and then Weirdmageddon happened and now we're all dead—"

"Mabel, stop." Dipper put an arm around her shoulders. "First of all, Bill tricked me once too, remember? And second, that fight wouldn't have happened if I hadn't tried to leave. I was the one being selfish, not you."

"Which brings it back to me," Ford sighed. "I shouldn't have tried to drive a . . . a _rift_ between you two. With the Rift . . . "

"What is this 'Rift' thing you guys keep mentioning, anyway?" Stan interrupted.

"An interdimensional rift, Stanley. It was a byproduct of the portal's reactivation."

Stan's eyes widened. "So you're saying . . . "

"Stanley, don't even start—"

"Not that I wouldn't have still saved you, Sixer, but . . . you never would've needed saving if I didn't push you into it!"

"Stanley, _no._ " He put his hands on his brother's shoulders as Stan averted his gaze. "Look at me. You know as well as I do that what happened with the portal was an accident . . . "

"A stupid accident!"

"But still an accident." He looked down sadly. "Fiddleford told me years ago to dismantle the portal, but I was too stubborn to listen. If I did, our fight wouldn't have escalated like it did." He squeezed Stan's shoulders. "What happened that night wasn't your fault, and I sure as hell don't want you to think that this is either."

"Fine." Stan looked up. "But if I'm not allowed to blame myself, neither are you."

"What? But Stanley—"

"No buts, Ford. If it was out of my hands, it was out of yours too."

"Yeah Grunkle Ford," Mabel chimed in. "We all know you'd never hurt anyone on purpose. You shouldn't be mad at yourself for this."

"I summoned Bill once too."

Gideon stared sheepishly at the ground as the others turned to glance at him. "Twice, actually." He winced. "That probably didn't help either."

"So, wait a minute," Robbie said, "whose fault is this again? And whose fault is it not?"

"Maybe it's no one's fault," Soos thought aloud. "Maybe these things just . . . _happen_ , you know? I mean, not that we didn't have anything to do with it, but . . . maybe it's destiny, or something."

"Or maybe the whole thing's just Bill's fault," Wendy retorted.

"Is it though? I mean yeah, Weirdmageddon definitely is, but as far as what happened to us . . . he told us we'd die if we used the Zodiac. It was our choice to do it anyway."

" . . . So wouldn't that make it our fault?"

"Well no, but . . . maybe? I, I don't know." Soos shrugged. "I just don't know, dudes."

"Speaking of dying," Dipper cut in, " . . . what are we supposed to do now?"

"Well, for starters, what exactly _are_ we?" Pacifica examined her own glowing form. "I mean, we're not exactly ghosts, obviously."

"What about them Force ghosts in Star Wars? They glow blue."

"But that's just a movie, McGucket."

"Yeah, but it could really happen, couldn't it?"

"Never mind all that," Gideon interrupted. "What I wanna know is . . . are we _really_ dead?"

"Well, yeah. We all saw the bodies—"

"I know that! But, didn't we establish in the Nightmare Realm that we're _life_ force now? And if that's the case, wouldn't that mean that, at least in a sense, we have to be _alive?"_

"I mean . . . I guess? Come to think of it, I really don't feel very 'dead,' do any of you?" The others shook their heads.

"So we're alive and dead at the same time." Ford laughed bitterly. "We're freaking Schrödinger's Cat, you guys! And what for? What's the point of all this? It's like, it's like all this time we've been mere _playthings_ in the hands of some sadistic cosmic author. Well you know what? I'm _done._ I'm done, do you hear me?! I've had enough of this—this freaking— ** _AAAAAAAAAHHH!"_** He broke off with a yell and punched the nearest tree in rage. Suddenly the tree was engulfed in a blazing inferno, which vanished as quickly as it appeared without leaving a trace.

Ford could only stand back, slack-jawed.

"Way to be original, Poindexter," Stan grumbled. "Thought I was the only one that could do that."

"I—I didn't do it on purpose, Stanley!" He stared at his hands. "I didn't realize we still had our powers from the Nightmare Realm."

"Well no duh! Why wouldn't we?"

"Different physics, for one thing, but . . . I just . . . _how?"_ He raised a hand to his forehead. "And why?"

"Well, you said before that it might be the Zodiac, Great-Uncle Ford," Dipper suggested. "And you said that was destiny, wasn't it? Maybe, I don't know . . . maybe destiny's not done with us yet."

"Yeah! Like Soos was saying before, maybe it is destiny! I mean, the point of the Zodiac was to protect Gravity Falls. Maybe . . . " Mabel opened her hand and created another shooting star. "Maybe that's what we're supposed to do."

"What, protect Gravity Falls?"

"Well, why not? I mean, that's how we died, after all."

"She's got a point," Wendy replied. "Besides, we've basically got infinite power now. What else are we gonna do with it?"

"I guess the only question left, then," Dipper added, "is who's in?"

"I am." The others were surprised to see Robbie to step up first, but Wendy smiled approvingly.

"So am I, obviously."

"Well, me too, so that makes three."

"Four."

Soon they'd formed another circle. Only Ford held back.

"You coming, Sixer?"

"Stanley, I—I still just don't know how to feel about all this."

Stan stepped away from the circle. "Look, we already established that it's not your fault. And you always wanted to be a hero, right?" He gestured toward the circle. "Well, now's your chance!"

Ford chuckled. "I guess you're right, Stanley." He took his brother's hand. "It's a chance for all of us. Because we're the Zodiac." The two rejoined the circle.

"Forever."


	4. Epilogue

**_Do not stand at my grave and weep._**

 ** _I am not there; I do not sleep._**

 ** _I am a thousand winds that blow._**

 ** _I am the diamond glints on snow._**

 ** _I am the sunlight on ripened grain._**

 ** _I am the gentle autumn rain._**

 ** _When you awaken in the morning's hush_**

 ** _I am the swift uplifting rush_**

 ** _Of quiet birds in circled flight._**

 ** _I am the soft star that shines at night._**

 ** _Do not stand at my grave and cry;_**

 ** _I am not there; I did not die._**

 _-_ _Mary Elizabeth Frye_

* * *

Immediately after the "incident," as Weirdmageddon came to be known in Gravity Falls, the whole town was shaken by the sudden and mysterious deaths of the ten found in the woods. Visiting twins Mabel and Mason "Dipper" Pines were transported to California by their parents for burial in their hometown of Piedmont. Pacifica Northwest was laid in the family catacombs under Northwest Manor. Wendy Corduroy was cremated, and her ashes scattered in the forest by her father. All others were laid to rest in the Gravity Falls Cemetery.

On August 25, 2013, exactly a year later, a memorial to the fallen heroes was dedicated in the town square. Modeled after the strange circle seen in the Fearamid, it replaced the abstract symbols with the names of their bearers, with a flag of the Resistance flying in the center of the bronze circle.

Fortunately, in the year between these events, the townsfolk of Gravity Falls had already begun moving on from the tragedy.

On September 2, 2012, Greg and Janice Valentino, owners of Valentino Funeral Home, closed up shop for a year and traveled the world, growing closer as a couple as they healed throughout their trip. A decade later, they sold the funeral home and retired for good. They continued to travel across the country and globe for the rest of their lives, and even lived to celebrate their golden anniversary.

On September 3, 2012, Melody Belk came from Portland to visit the grave of her long-distance boyfriend, Soos Ramirez. After striking up a close friendship with his grandmother, Maria, she decided to move to Gravity Falls permanently and took a full-time job at the mall's Meat Cute stand. Melody went on to marry one of her co-workers and have three kids, one of whom she named after Soos. Maria Ramirez became an honorary grandmother to the children, loving them for many years until she peacefully passed away in her sleep at the age of 89.

On May 14, 2013, just a week shy of their thirteenth anniversary, Louise and Charles "Bud" Gleeful filed for divorce, citing irretrievable breakdown of marriage following the death of their young son, Gideon. Bud Gleeful moved back to his home state of Texas, where he remarried a widow with two teenage daughters and lived a long life with a large family, including many beloved step-grandchildren. Louise, meanwhile, stayed in Gravity Falls and married local farmer Tobias Sprott. Over the next twenty years, she was slowly able to move on from her late son's abusive behavior, eventually coming to truly forgive him before she died.

On June 3, 2013, the opening day of Fishing Season, Lake Gravity Falls Bait & Tackle was officially renamed McGuckets' Bait & Tackle, in honor of proprietor Tate McGucket's late father. Tate continued to run the store for seventeen years, until his rowboat capsized one evening while he was on the lake during a storm. When his body washed ashore the next morning, he was promptly buried next to his father.

On August 4, 2013, the first annual Pacifica Elise Northwest Memorial Gala was held at Northwest Manor—open, despite Preston and Priscilla's personal misgivings, to the townsfolk of Gravity Falls as well as wealthy invitees. Curiously, the townsfolk turned out to be not bad company, and the list of rich and famous guests gradually grew shorter over the years. On April 29, 2016, the Northwests unexpectedly gave birth to a son, Nathan Patrick Northwest. Vowing to be better parents than they were to their firstborn daughter, Priscilla and Preston did their best to be supportive and caring—and, of course, any notions of Pavlovian discipline were immediately thrown out the window. Decades later, after outliving Priscilla by three years and suffering a near-fatal stroke six months prior, Preston Northwest died at home at the age of 85. His son was at his bedside.

On September 13, 2013, after over a year of wallowing in grief for his late brothers and grandchildren, Sherman Pines retired from his job as an accountant in New York City and moved to Piedmont, California to spend more time with his son and daughter-in-law. After learning to emotionally open himself up more, he achieved further closure by driving to Gravity Falls once a year to visit his brothers' graves. It was a full day of driving each way, but Sherman refused to travel otherwise; he had always been skeptical of public transportation, and plus he said that the drive gave him a chance to think. He made the trip annually for twelve years, only stopping at the age of 78 when he had a fatal car accident just north of the Oregon-California border. As per his wishes, he was buried next to Stanley and Stanford.

In the years following the incident, several of the townsfolk noted curious happenings around Gravity Falls. Broken objects would be found inexplicably repaired. Children who ran out into the street would narrowly avoid getting hit by the cars rushing past. Such minor events were seen as unrelated, chalked up to dumb luck and human forgetfulness.

As years turned into decades, however, these occurrences became more noticeable and infinitely more mysterious. Hidden messages were found in peculiar places around town, revealed only by ultraviolet light. Residents of all ages reported having nightmares suddenly shift into pleasant dreams, often with fleeting glances of a little girl who shone like a shooting star.

It became evident that these events were of supernatural origin, a sort not seen before among the usual anomalies of Gravity Falls. Rumors swirled that the town was, in a sense, haunted—not by ghosts, per se, but by some type of benevolent spirits.

The legends came to a head on December 25, 2062, fifty years after the incident. A massive blizzard from the north was forecasted to hit Oregon on Christmas Day, leaving widespread destruction and death in its path. Thus, it came as a surprise when families statewide awoke that morning to find only mild snowfall. Meteorologists found that the blizzard had abruptly changed its course and dissipated over the Pacific Ocean. As children everywhere played in the snow, several in Gravity Falls later claimed to have spotted a girl with long red hair watching from beyond the trees.

The next morning, Manly Dan Corduroy, aged 99, was found by his sons resting against a tree near the edge of the woods, a peaceful smile spread across his cold face. As per his wishes, his sons Marcus, Kevin and Gus scattered his ashes on the same tree.

Soon the tales of mystical Guardians became intertwined with the longstanding local lore of Gravity Falls, like a mutual town secret. Though not discussed extensively with outsiders, tourists picked up on bits and pieces of the stories, causing them to spread throughout Oregon and across the Pacific Northwest region.

Eventually the legends piqued the interest of a pair of graduate students at West Coast Tech, who decided to investigate the mystery for themselves and arrived in Gravity Falls on June 15, 2112.


End file.
